Aztec Ruins

Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico, was established in 1923 and covers 320 acres. Early Euro-American settlers erroneously assumed the people who built these villages were Aztecs, hence the name of the ruins and of the modern town of Aztec.

Later archeological study confirmed that the builders were ancestors of the Puebloan peoples. Archeologists adopted and popularized the Navajo word Anasazi to refer to the people who built and lived here.

The boys had fun going through the ruins asking questions about how people lived. It's astonishing how people built their homes with no modern technology. Just hard work and will was needed. You can walk into most of the ruins.

 

Justin thinks that the aliens took the people that's why we can't find them. I can't say that is true but could be a possibly. I'm not going to discount something I have no idea if it happen or not. He loves history. We could have spent all day there but it was hot. It was 100 without the heat index added. If you are traveling to New Mexico this is a must stop. It's five dollars for adults kids are free. If you have Native American blood you are free in our case we have Cherokee on both our sides and apache on my side. We still donated money to the center to help keep up the ruins. The boys became junior rangers.

 

They had to raise their hand and promise to help take care of the environment among other things. It was a cute little ceremony complete with a sticker and a badge.

Once inside there are artifacts to look at with a short video about how Aztec Ruins was discover. The kids get their own little book to with questions to answer in order to become Junior Rangers. Next on our list is the Salmon Ruins.